Bill Text: TX HR85 | 2011-2012 | 82nd Legislature | Enrolled
Bill Title: Honoring the life of Benito Juarez on March 21, 2012, the 206th anniversary of his birth.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Passed) 2011-03-03 - Reported enrolled [HR85 Detail]
Download: Texas-2011-HR85-Enrolled.html
H.R. No. 85 |
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WHEREAS, Benito Juarez, who was instrumental in bringing | ||
sweeping changes to Mexican government and society during the | ||
mid-19th century, was born on March 21, 1806; and | ||
WHEREAS, A Zapotec Indian and native of Oaxaca, Benito Juarez | ||
was a teenager when he gained the patronage of the family in whose | ||
home his sister was working as a servant; tutored privately at | ||
first, he graduated from the Franciscan seminary in Oaxaca in 1827 | ||
and received a law degree from the Institute of Science and Art in | ||
1834; and | ||
WHEREAS, Attracted to politics at an early age, he spent | ||
virtually all of his adult life either in government or waging | ||
opposition; he served as a city councilman for Oaxaca from 1831 to | ||
1833, during which time he strongly supported Indian rights, and in | ||
the 1840s he served as a civil judge and federal deputy; from 1847 | ||
to 1852 he held the governorship of Oaxaca; and | ||
WHEREAS, Driven into exile when Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna | ||
came to power in 1853, Sr. Juarez joined the successful | ||
revolutionary movement against him; after Santa Anna himself was | ||
forced into exile, Sr. Juarez became minister of justice, and while | ||
in that post he was responsible for a law that limited the | ||
jurisdiction of church courts to ecclesiastical cases; and | ||
WHEREAS, After serving again as governor of Oaxaca, this | ||
rising national leader became minister of the interior in November | ||
1857 and the next month took office as chief justice of the supreme | ||
court; when a military coup deposed the government, he became | ||
president, in accordance with the constitutional line of | ||
succession, and led the victorious resistance to the usurpers in | ||
the Reform War of 1858-1861; and | ||
WHEREAS, Benito Juarez was elected to the presidency in 1861; | ||
soon, however, he found himself fighting the French, who captured | ||
Mexico City in 1863; once again he and his troops prevailed, with | ||
the United States clearly favoring their cause, and in 1867 he was | ||
again elected president; and | ||
WHEREAS, Known for his commitment to the indigenous people of | ||
Mexico and for his support for equal rights and economic reform, | ||
President Juarez died while working at his desk in the National | ||
Palace on July 17, 1872; in 1888, the city of El Paso del Norte was | ||
renamed Ciudad Juarez in his honor; and | ||
WHEREAS, Benito Juarez is a towering figure in the history of | ||
Mexico; he was instrumental in the transfer of political power from | ||
creoles to mestizos, in asserting the authority of civil law, and in | ||
preserving the nation's autonomy in the face of foreign invasion, | ||
and it is a privilege to honor the memory of this national hero; | ||
now, therefore, be it | ||
RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 82nd Texas | ||
Legislature hereby pay special tribute to the life of Mexican hero | ||
and president Benito Juarez on March 21, 2012, the 206th | ||
anniversary of his birth. | ||
Alonzo | ||
______________________________ | ||
Speaker of the House | ||
I certify that H.R. No. 85 was unanimously adopted by a rising | ||
vote of the House on February 24, 2011. | ||
______________________________ | ||
Chief Clerk of the House | ||